The first steps to implement sustainability in your business
- 29 de set. de 2019
- 2 min de leitura
Taking sustainable actions has become strategic for companies in many sectors of the economy, but when it comes to micro and small businesses, these actions become even more important. It is because sustainability has become a differential, an advantage in the dispute with larger companies.
Large companies do not have the flexibility that small businesses have to be able to implement new actions, to change the way they do. And that is why small companies have to take advantage of this flexibility and attract new customers, people who give preference to responsible and environmentally conscious businesses.
It is in this context that small hospitality businesses started to take sustainable actions to differentiate themselves from their competitors. And in the hospitality sector, these actions gain even more importance and repercussion, as these projects have a great influence on the environment and the local community.
Tourism if done well, following the precepts of sustainability, brings benefits to nature and the local community, but if mismanaged it can cause irreparable damage!
On the way to develop a good sustainability work, the first step of any venture is to insert sustainability into its strategy, which requires the company, among other things:
- Create a vision and mission statement that takes into account social and environmental issues.
- Make all employees, suppliers and customers aware of this new strategy.
- Develop and implement social and environmental actions.
- Check if actions are coming out as desired. One of the tools to carry out this control is through the sustainability reports.
- Show people what your business is doing. It is not wrong to advertise the actions you do, what is wrong is to announce what you not do! If your venture develops good social and environmental actions, let people know.
Developing and implementing social and environmental actions
At this stage, in addition to researching best practices in the industry, the hotel, hostel or resort has to analyse all the activities developed in its operation. The business must analyse all actions performed and from there, evaluate their impact on the environment and society and how these impacts can be mitigated.
One way to do this measurement and analyses is following these steps:
1 - Map the activities developed in each department The mapping of all activities of the business is fundamental for the organisational knowledge of your business and the implementation of any management system. Developing a flow of activities in each area of the company enables the next step, in which aspects of the business linked to sustainability (environmental, social and economic) are identified.
2- Identify which aspects of the business are linked to sustainability The activity of identifying aspects and impacts makes it possible to locate and point out what are the necessary improvements to improve the performance of your business concerning sustainability in its three dimensions (environmental, social and economic).
2.1 - Identify the aspects and impacts of each activity developed in the enterprise
2.2 - Assess the significance of aspects and impacts identified in the previous step
3 - Once the possible impacts of the business to the environment, the local community and the economy have been identified and evaluated, then the implementation of the activities chosen as priorities should be continued.
By Thiago Cagna
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